I tried to find that part before I wrote, but didn’t seem to find it. Maybe I’m too tired. Thanks for finding it for me.
Well, no matter. It’s okay coz I don’t think we need to base the system on these typical fetch quests. What we could do is simply make a foundation around the lore of the factions. Have the interest nodes pop up randomly around the place depending from their cultures, i.e. mingling behaviour pool.
For example we get to where the relic hunters are. We do our things as usual, but suddenly on our way back we stumble upon a relic hunter who had been attacked and left to die naked over a hot desert hill.
We have multiple options; help or pass.
If chosen to help, we decide how we want to help and it either works or fails. If it works, the hunter then thanks us and goes to spread the word of their good fortune. If it doesn’t, we would have three options; to try bring them to the closest friendly settlement for treatment, travel to the family and give them a farewell letter or yield and tell the hunter that we will honour them in the next feast. Each option works to provide the same reputation, but in a way that fits everyone’s pace of play and style. If we decide to pass them to begin with, nothing necessarily happens coz the hunter might die and therefore no one would know better. Only the good deeds count.
Another example is about yet another hunter. We stumble upon a fire late at night and a hunter sits next to it. We bid them no harm and join their small of a feast. They tell us about the lore of their faction and we get to fill our belly. They ask us a question and we answer them the way we see fit, and in the morning the hunter goes on to spread the word of a wanderer with a specific taste.
So in essence this reputation system could work thorough randomly built faction encounters that appear on a local biome basis, with options in each that fit the level of haste a player has. Only the good deeds count. To bring in negative deeds, one would need to simply kill the hunter instead, repeat the deed often enough in one place to build tension for local faction and wait them to send investigation parties to try find the source to these killings. You could also order an assassination when you happen to stumble upon an assassin on the way. No need to run anywhere. Just pay for the person and soon after it’s done. There would be a risk though. If the assassin gets caught and tells who paid them, you would be killed on sight and given negative reputation. Again if you kill the assassin instead or they are killed in action, nothing happens coz no one is wiser.
Coz we already do fetching for ourselves, it would be a breeze of fresh air to just do reverse quests. Instead of fetch quests, we pay for fetching. Instead of location fixed quests, we stumble upon random quests we succeed on the spot with a moment to spare.
Reverse quests… I kinda like the name. 